I've come across a few reviews...don't have the points here to post links here yet. But googling for "Aspire One OpenBSD" returned one review that looked like it worked.

The model that caught my eye is an Aspire One D257-1854:

Atom N570 processor (1.6Ghz, 1MB L2 cache)

1GB DDR3 RAM

3-cell lithium

250GB HDD

Obvious, tons more power than one needs for a pleasant BSD experience. Just a question of drivers. If necessary I could live without wireless...mainly I want to boot, use text editors and compilers, play with unix.

Unfortunately, I did not see anything specific to a D257. However, if you read through related searches above, there is more than one occurrence of trackpad compatibility issues. I have also seen off-the-shelf Windows also have trackpad issues, so Acer must have a flunky trackpad supplier. The solution is to plug in a USB mouse.

When it comes to hardware compatibility questions, the OpenBSD project is too small to test everything available. The best method is to go to vendors with a clear return policy, & be very clear as to the conditions of that agreement before purchasing. If it works, great. If it doesn't, you have an avenue to get a refund.

That http://www.undeadly.org article is nearly three years old. Manufacturers tend to swap out existing parts for cheaper alternatives as product model lines mature. Apple is notorious for this practice. I would be cautious thinking that any recommendations made there still hold today.

But if I did go ahead & chance it, I would buy from a vendor who would honor returns if I later decided to do so.

You can start from a LiveCD and check of everything works (Wireless, sound, etc).
As Ocicat mentioned, not all Acer Aspire models are alike, and there can be great differences even if the model no. is the same.

1) Live media based on OpenBSD 5.0-release has been prepared, and will be made publicly available on or about 1 November, concurrent with 5.0-release.

2) The mailing list is temporarily inoperative, pending a patch from gilles@ and eric@, as I converted from sendmail(8) to smtpd(8). I'll be editing the mailing list web page this weekend, until then, please ignore it.

I took the plunge - they're only $228 at Wal-mart. Worst case, I'm pretty sure I can run Linux on it (prefer not to :-)

I created a OpenBSD 4.9 flash disk wih bsd.rd and it recognized everything...realtek ethernet (re0), intel wifi (iwn0), hard disk, keyboard, etc. The network devices show up in ifconfig so they're all working.

Not sure about: trackpad, camera, bluetooth, etc. Will have to get into those after I install. Really hoping the trackpad works.

5.1-release will have an enhanced Synaptics/ALPS driver. Meanwhile, the trackpad should behave as at least a mouse for you. If you can't wait until May of next year, you could install -current, as long as you understand all of the implications (most of which are discussed in FAQ 5 and FAQ 15).

Bluetooth has a limited tools suite on OpenBSD, primarily for BT modems.

Even if the system only has 2GB of physical RAM, installing OpenBSD/amd64 has some nice benefits.. larger virtual address space, 64-bit registers, and W^X is implemented using the NX bit in the page tables vs the old segmentation trick they use on i386.

A lot of people running Linux choose to use the 32-bit port due to closed source software not being available for 64-bit systems, but for most OpenBSD users, that's not an issue.

Many portability problems have also been solved, the 4.9 release had 6620 i386 binary packages and 6570 amd64..

There is little reason these days not to install OpenBSD/amd64 if your system natively supports it, of course, if you already installed OpenBSD/i386 you can always choose to reconsider when 5.0 is released.

Even if the system only has 2GB of physical RAM, installing OpenBSD/amd64 has some nice benefits.. larger virtual address space, 64-bit registers, and W^X is implemented using the NX bit in the page tables vs the old segmentation trick they use on i386.

The laptop actually only has 1GB at the moment (could expand to 2GB), but your points are interesting. I was thinking 64-bit would consume a little more memory for processes allocating 64-bit pointers and such. But it probably doesn't really make much difference.

Quote:

There is little reason these days not to install OpenBSD/amd64 if your system natively supports it, of course, if you already installed OpenBSD/i386 you can always choose to reconsider when 5.0 is released.

I reinstalled with amd64 and everything seems to work!

For anyone whoever googles for this - the exact model is the Acer Aspire One D257-13450.

It looks like it was added to -current in June, and will be in 5.0. I found this in sys/dev/pci/pcidevs.h

It seems someone added it to the pcidevs file, however, no driver seems to attach to the RTS5209 yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by raindog308

The laptop actually only has 1GB at the moment (could expand to 2GB), but your points are interesting. I was thinking 64-bit would consume a little more memory for processes allocating 64-bit pointers and such. But it probably doesn't really make much difference.

There may be some increase is memory usage, but it shouldn't be too bad.